“Between the Shadows” Part Two

KAEL

The Hollowed Ones came like a storm of ink—dozens of eyeless, shifting beasts dragging the shadows behind them. Their howls were more psychic than sound, splitting through Kael’s mind with a frequency that made his teeth ache. They moved like smoke and death, like hatred incarnate.

But Kael didn’t flinch.

He stood his ground, shielding Lyra behind him.

“Run,” he growled.

“I’m not leaving you.”

He glanced back once—and saw the silver burn of her eyes. Different now. Brighter. Almost unnatural. The Hollow had changed her.

No… awakened her.

The nearest creature lunged, a mass of writhing limbs and jagged mouths. Kael met it mid-air, claws slicing through smoke-flesh. The thing screamed—not from pain but fury—as if Kael’s touch burned.

Lyra gasped. “Kael, they can’t stand your light—your blood.”

That was it.

The Hollow hated light. Hated the blood of the Gate’s guardian.

Kael let the wolf fully rise.

His bones snapped. His spine arched. In seconds, he stood not as man but beast—a towering black wolf with gold-fire eyes and fur laced with flame. The Hollow screamed louder, retreating slightly.

But not for long.

More poured from the trees. The forest itself seemed to twist, bending inward like a mouth ready to devour.

Lyra raised her hands.

At first, nothing happened.

Then a wind rose around her—glowing silver threads spinning from her palms, spiraling into symbols in the air.

Kael recognized the runes. Old. Forbidden. Blood magic.

“How do you know that?” he demanded between strikes.

“I don’t—I just feel it.”

The magic obeyed her.

The air crackled as a ring of light formed around them, keeping the beasts at bay. They circled just beyond the barrier, hissing and snapping, waiting for the moment it faltered.

Kael panted, shifting back to his half-form. “They’ll break through.”

“Then we move.”

She took his hand—and they ran.

LYRA

Her body was on fire.

Every breath she took felt like she was inhaling stardust and poison. The symbols that danced in her mind weren’t hers, yet they burned behind her eyes like she was born with them. The forest bled illusions, trees melting into faces she almost remembered. Her mother. Her child self. Kael… standing in chains.

No. Not real.

They had to keep going.

The wolves followed, snarling in the trees, but they didn’t attack. Not yet.

“They’re watching,” she whispered.

“They’re waiting for something.”

They broke through the forest into a clearing made of crystal and bone. In the center stood a massive stone gate—curved like an ancient archway, pulsing with blue veins of light.

The Gate.

She knew it before she even touched it.

This was what the Hollow wanted. What it had always wanted. Her. Here. At the Gate’s threshold.

Because she wasn’t just the key.

She was the Gate.

The arch hummed when she approached, and Kael grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t.”

“It’s calling me.”

“It’s using you.”

“No,” she said softly. “It’s me.”

The Gate pulsed again—and her mind was flooded with visions.

War. Fire. Wolves tearing at each other. Her ancestors standing before this same Gate, bleeding into the stone to keep it shut. And then—her mother, barely older than Lyra now, running through it, pursued by shadows.

And behind her… a man.

Kael’s father.

Lyra jerked back. “Kael.”

He turned to her, concern clouding his face.

“Our parents knew each other.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Gate. They both tried to seal it. Together. They were allies—maybe more.”

Kael stepped back, breath catching. “That’s not possible.”

But he saw it too.

The Gate showed him.

His father and her mother, standing in the ruins, carving blood sigils into the ground. Holding hands.

And the moment it all went wrong.

Betrayal.

Blood.

A deal struck with the Hollow to save a child—Lyra.

Kael clenched his fists. “They sacrificed everything… for you.”

“And now I have to finish it.”

The Gate flared.

From the forest, the beasts screamed as one.

The barrier was broken.

Dozens—maybe hundreds—rushed the clearing.

Kael moved to stand between them and Lyra.

She raised her hands again.

The Gate opened.

KAEL

The world split.

Not just the realm—but time. Memory. Truth.

He saw everything at once—his father’s last battle. The sealing. The deal made to spare Lyra’s life. The decision to bind her blood with shadow and light. And the curse that followed:

That if she ever opened the Gate again… the Hollow would consume everything.

“Close it!” Kael roared.

But Lyra stood frozen.

The light of the Gate poured into her eyes, into her soul. Her body trembled as visions stormed her mind. Blood ran from her nose. Her hands glowed with silver and black threads.

She was becoming the Gate.

And Kael realized—if he didn’t stop her, she’d disappear into it forever.

“Lyra!” he shouted, grabbing her shoulders. “You don’t have to do this!”

“I do!” she sobbed. “If I don’t, it will never end.”

“There’s another way. I’ll find it. I swear.”

She looked up at him, eyes flickering with pain and power.

“I’m not strong enough.”

“You’re not alone.”

For one moment—one single breath—they stood in stillness.

And then—

The Gate pulsed.

The Hollow screamed.

And something tore free from the other side.

LYRA

The creature that emerged wasn’t a beast.

It was a god.

Twisted. Shaped from shadow and old fire. Its face was bone and hunger. Its limbs were endless. It stepped into the clearing, and the land died beneath its feet.

Lyra collapsed, the bond between her and the Gate snapping like a broken string. Her body felt scorched. Her magic drained.

Kael stood before the creature.

Alone.

“No,” she whispered, dragging herself to her knees. “Kael, don’t—”

But he didn’t look back.

He walked toward the god, his body already beginning to burn from the proximity. The Hollowed creatures retreated in reverence. Even they feared what had come through.

Kael turned to her once, his golden eyes bright with fire.

“Forgive me,” he said.

Then he shifted.

Fully.

Into the true wolf.

Not just a werewolf.

Something older. Something sacred.

His form exploded into gold and black flame. His howl shattered the air.

And he leapt.